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Youp Schmit got 1st place in the freestyle 18- category @ Curacao challenge
In the Easter vacation Youp went to Curacao for the windsurfing competition Curacao challenge. Youp got 1st place in the freestyle 18- category.
The freestyle competition was two days, it started on monday the 5th of april till the 6th.
Youp had an interview with David Dovale from the Curacao News website "versgeperst.com" - Vers zweet van wereldkampioen windsurfer Youp Schmit.
Other articles about this event -all articles are in dutch:
Seaquarium overladen met surfers
Lokale uitblinkers bij "Challenge"
Curacao Challenge loopt ten einde
Youp Schmit world champion in Italy
Youp Schmit from Bonaire,14 years, competed in the Starboard Prokids world championships.
The competition was held in Italy, on the north side of the island Sardinia at the spot Porto Pollo, from the 22th till the 27th of june. A lot of kids from all over the world showed up for the competition. There was great wind and flat water so it was perfect for all the sliding moves.
Youp started great, right after the starting signal he pulled out his first moves, like spock 540 or a funnel. He managed to continue in this 5 minutes heats, with very great moves. He impressed the crowd and the jury, by showing his tricks, like shaka’s, double flaka’s, funnels, and more.
For 5 days, he was able to win every heat from his opponent, so it was very clear that he was the best.
The final result for Youp Schmit was 1st place in the under 15 category.
Youp said: “It was a great experience and a lot of fun competing in this competition, cause you can see how other kids have improved there new tricks, and also showing them my new moves”.
“Every evening there was a dinner or a BBQ, but it was mostly pizza which I like the best”.
“I would love to come back to Sardina one time”.
Ezzy Blog from Gary and Nancy Morris (click here for the link to the blog, or click here to view the blog as a jpg; opens in new window).
A little update from Ruben Petrisie
After not competing in international slalom races for about 10 years I thought I d give slalom racing a try to see what will come up.
After some practise times in Spain and Turkey on the Loft Blades I prepared for the PWA Grand Slam in Pozo and Fuerte canary islands.
It was a super experience to sail amoung the best of the best in Pozo.
With winds blowing 30 to over 45 knots in Pozo, I was using the Loft Blades 5.1 and 5.6 the most retile masts and Unifiber extensions and booms.
It was pure hardcore slalom racing between big chops, ocean swells while sometimes even thrue waves.
I learned a lot even if Often just not making it to the first 6 to advance to the next rounds.
example: Start position up down center, jibe preparations in order to round the mark well and so on.
So much going on just in one race. Pozo now is the most extreme slalom conditions I have ever experience so far.
I did freestyle 2 times in pozo and thats a whole different story.,
In fuerte the conditions looked like it would be allright...after a few days of preparations, tunning and training.
The winds in fuerte are slightly lighter than Pozo but more on the gusty side.
the funny thing there is comming in its pretty ok, while going down with the litle swells, but going out you often face litle steep ramps at full speed which could be scary at some times depending on the tide sometimes it could be a real bumpy ride.
sails I use the most where LOFT Blades 5.6, 6.2, 6.8 and one day on 7.5 .
My favourite round was the whole fleet race where I mannage to cross the line at 21st...yeah
It was a long fast run towards the first mark.
It was another great slalom experience down in fuerte I defenately learned a lot in these 3 crazy weeks.
I will continue doing slalom next to freestyle...next event is down in Alacati Turkey.
Thanks to Jibe city for their support,Ruben Petrisie
Youp Schmit, a 13 year old windsurfer from Bonaire recently competed in Italy at the Starboard European Championships Freestyle Event.
The event was held the 3rd – 5th of July 2008 in Sardinia. Youp arrived early in Sardinia to train. Sardinia is a beautiful island with a lot of good spots for windsurfing. Upon arrival, Youp wanted to go immediately on the water. He enjoyed 3 days to practice in perfect 20 knot winds. Sometimes the gusts were up to 28! Youp was showing off his trick moves, like “Funnel, Puneta, E-slider and of course Flakas. The other kids were watching him, and they said, “wow, this kid is really good”. The freestyle was at Porto Pollo, which is a beautiful bay, with good wind. For one day they moved to another spot called Porto Liscia where it was more choppy and windy. The conditions were great to perform the Shove It and other aerial moves. There were about 50 participants from all over Europe. The mood was very enjoyable and fun.. There were 5 days of elimination rounds where Youp placed first!!The organization was perfect with evening organized dinners, a lot of pasta and pizza and other lovely foods. The last day there was a big award ceremony, in the centre of Palau and Youp was standing on the podium with a smile from ear to ear with his first place win.
Sportorientation with Havo4 and Vwo5 from the SGB at Jibe City
Twice on a Friday afternoon we went with ten students from the SGB (Scholengemeenschap Bonaire) windsurfing at Jibe city. The idea about this program is that the students choose a sport out of school instead of the regulair lesson. For some it's hard to get in contact with sports like windsurfing, wakeboarding, sailing or other sports they offer here on the island.
For most of the students it was the first time on a surfboard. Unbelievable if you know they live close to maybe the best windsurfing spot in the world. After a coupe of times falling off, they managed to go back and forward and had a great time.
Thanks to Jibe City to give us this nice experience.
The 2008 Surf World Cup Podersdorf – Event Summary
Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo scoops first victory of the freestyle season ahead of former world champion Marcilio ‘Brawzinho’ Browne in epic style on the final day of competition.
Following a year’s break from the PWA calendar, the Austrian town of Podersdorf once again played host to the first stop on the men’s freestyle tour.
Day 1
The light wind forecast for the first day of competition stayed true, meaning besides registration and rigging, the sailors could take some time out to explore the multitude of other attractions on offer. In the evening, Move Surfstore hosted the event’s official welcoming party.
Day 2
In a similar style to the previous day, riders were welcomed to the event site by light winds and blue skies. Competition got underway late into the afternoon, with race officials running heats several hundred meters offshore, where the gusts were strongest.
Move of the day went to Swede Niklas Stråhlen (RRD, Simmer), who landed a regular stance chacho diablo. The day finished up with the final heat of round 1 being completed as the sun went down. The 16 winners advanced to round two of the draw, where they’d do battle with the top 16 seeded riders the following day.
The evening saw all 48 sailors grace the huge Bacardi soundstage and be individually announced to the massive crowd, before a night of revelry unfolded.
Day 3
An ominous bank of dark clouds moved over the event site on day 3 of the contest, delivering a welcome breeze to the shores of Lake Neusiedler. The race committee wasted no time, scheduling heat 9 to start directly after the skippers meeting. Sadly, hopes of getting the heat going were dashed when the wind dropped just as the sailors were hitting the water. The afternoon was spent relaxing, as the wind teased but never built sufficiently to allow competition to go ahead. Hopes turned to day 4, which showed a promising forecast, and the possibility of an entire day of competition.
Later that evening, riders had the chance to let their hair down and party alongside thousands of Austrian locals. Each night of competition boasted its own bands and line up of deejays playing on three different stages, in addition to numerous bars, stands and food outlets, which combined with the windsurfing action created a perfect lifestyle blend of sport and music.
Day 4
Day 4’s skippers’ meeting was arranged an hour earlier than the previous days, to take advantage of what looked to be a promising day ahead. Heat 9 was given the go ahead and the riders hit the water to warm up for the much-anticipated heat. To everyone’s disappointment, the wind seemed to have other plans, and again the riders of heat nine had to leave the water without a result. Another day of competition came to an end under clear skies, and with an apparent air of frustration as the wind continued to thwart competition.
Over the course of the sun-drenched afternoon, many of the riders used the downtime to spruce up their pit tents in preparation for the pit walk later in the competition. The six man pit tents were to be judged on their general ‘look’, with the winning pit taking home 1500 euros. Needless to say, creativity was running high, with some tents boasting fully rigged sails extended 5 meters into the air on poles, an others with their own private beaches inside!
Day 5
The morning of day 5 kicked off with the re-run of heat 9. With the wind blowing consistently, the day was poised to deliver some radical action. The following seven heats of round two were run back to back.
Local boy Michael Roßmeier (Exocet, The Loft) sailed exceptionally, and was unlucky to be defeated by an on form Jose Estredo (Fanatic, North Sails, MFC), who took no prisoners with his routine of no handed flaka diablos and burners.
Andre Paskowski (Fanatic, North Sails) and Frenchman Nicolas Akgazciyan (Starboard, Gun Sails) played host to arguably the finest action of the round, defeating rivals Maarten van Ochten (JP, NeilPryde) and Mattia Pedrani (Mistral, North Sails) with a selection of flaka diablos and switch stance chachos.
Following directly on from round two, round three got going immediately. Without upset, the big names continued to advance. Moving into the first of the quarterfinals were teammates, Tonky Frans and Kiri Thode (Starboard, Gaastra) who successfully defeated Steven van Broeckhoven (F2, MauiSails) and Michael Sumereder (RRD, North Sails).
Also moving into the quarterfinals were Taty Frans (Starboard, North Sails) and Jose Estredo, who dispatched Egor Popretinskiy (JP, NeilPryde) and Michael Roßmeier.
Stable mates Antxon Otaegui (JP, NeilPryde) and Ricardo Campello (JP, NeilPryde) advanced to the second of the quarterfinals, defeating rivals Normen Günzlein (JP, NeilPryde) and Andreas Olandersson (Fanatic, Simmer, MFC) before the wind called an early end to the day’s proceedings.
Day 6
A sunny final day of competition quickly whittled the field down to the final four riders, Tonky Frans vs. Jose Estredo and Antxon Otaegui vs. Marcilio Browne. However with only 2 hours remaining of competition, the entire lake had glassed off, and hopes of running both the semi final and the final looked slim.
Luck turned out to be on our side. In the final hour of the contest, the wind picked up and the semi final could be completed. Advancing into the winners final were Estredo and Browne, and into the losers final Otaegui and Tonky Frans.
The event’s final showdown was a spectacle to behold. The four finalists were giving everything they had, launching into huge aerial moves within touching distance of the ecstatic local crowd.
Standout moves included; Browne’s massive ponch directly in front of the judges, Estredo’s no handed flaka virtually on the beach, Tonky Frans’s flaka 720 and Otaegui’s smooth regular stance chacho.
Following ten minutes of epic freestyle, the horn blew ending the heat, and signifying the end of the first stop on the freestyle tour.
Almost as soon as it had arrived, the wind was gone, leaving only the final’s results to be announced. Hundreds of excited fans flocked to the main stage where the four finalists waited patiently on the judges’ decision. The tension was broken as the final standings boomed around the event ground, and within seconds the crowd was being treated to a champagne shower courtesy of event winner, Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo.
The final heats results were as follows:That concludes the first freestyle event on the PWA calendar. The tour now rolls on to Ulsan, Korea for the first stop on the slalom tour, on the 12th of May. Be sure to check www.pwaworldtour.com from then to follow the action with our live event ticker, daily news summaries, video footage, awesome photo galleries, online elimination ladders and more!
- Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo (Fanatic, North Sails, MFC)
- Marcilio ‘Brawzinho’ Brown (Mistral, Gaastra)
- Tonky Frans (F2, Gaastra)
- Antxon Otaegui (JP, NeilPryde, MFC)
Or, for more information contact the PWA office via info@pwaworldtour.com
© PWA / Andrew Buchanan
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